well, bottled last friday, tried one of them on sunday...slight carb, decent taste...

tried another last night (i know they're not ready, but trying to get some experience as to how the beer carbonates and ages over time - at least that's my excuse!) - I was surprised by it - it had a good level of carb already, and tasted a lot like sam adams (wish I had one side by side to compare - I will when I taste another one next week)

It's a nice darkish amber color like Sam, and had that slightly sweet yet hoppy taste (it is a "summer ale" - the kit described it as being like a sam adams summer or pete's wicked summer ale)

the hop taste is still a bit sharp - i assume that will mellow after a few weeks - i do not plan on giving any to friends/family to taste until at least 2 weeks in bottle and 1 week cold conditioning afterwards. only problem I noticed was a very slight banana taste - not really unpleasant, sort of reminiscent of a hefeweizen banana taste - I assume this is because of my high ferment temps (my new batch, an amber ale, is now sitting in my air conditioned bedroom...it still only gets 74-76 deg. F, but better than 78-82 in the other rooms...hope it's low enough, using wyeast 1056 which i hear is pretty tolerant and clean)

am i correct about the source of the banana flavor? maybe it's not banana and results from the "lemon extract" grains that were in the kit - I don't have a very experienced palate yet I hope off-flavors do not get too pronounced - I think it might be quite good when it mellows a bit...

also, no splitting headaches yet, so hopefully fusels were kept to a minimun!

one other thing I noticed - the yeast is just a tiny ring around the bottom of the bottle, and does a good job of staying put when I pour the beer. I wish I had tracked what kind of yeast was in the kit - I'll have to ask the shop owner.

That's an excuse I'll buy for a dollar Actually, it's a good way to see how a beer changes over time. Most likely your 'banana' aroma is due to the temperatures of the ferment--higher temps yield esters (which are described as 'fruity'). If the kit supplied you with an actual Hefe yeast, then a banana aroma is actually what you're supposed to get at warmer temps. At colder temps, Hefe yeast will yield more of a clove aroma.

The hop bite will mellow with age. My normal protocol is to let ales age a month before serving, and let lagers age two months before serving--these are for beers in the 1.040-1.060 range.